DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “U.S. wants stronger economic ties with ASEAN: Trade Representative” plus 4 more

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, President Barack Obama's Chief Trade Advisor, said Thursday that the United States has desire to have " more comprehensive relationship" with all Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.

He said that the United States underscored the importance of the relationship with ASEAN, saying that the bloc is an important region for the United States.

"If we collectively take the 10 ASEAN members, they would represent for larger trading partner, we have a lot of room for growth," he told reporters before attending the Consultations with the ASEAN Economic Ministers.

He said the United States wanted to see more economic integration and harmonization among the ASEAN member states.

Kirk arrived here on Thursday morning to attend the ongoing 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting and related meeting, which was opened on Monday and will last until Friday.

According to a press release from the U.S. embassy in Phnom Penh, the United States saw the 10 ASEAN countries as key economic and strategic partners, and Kirk's visit was to demonstrate U.S. support for ASEAN integration and desire to deepen economic engagement with the region.

The ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The ASEAN-U.S. Business Summit was held here on Thursday to explore ways to deepen trade and investment ties between the two sides, officials said.

The event was attended by ASEAN Economic Ministers or their representatives, U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN David Carden, ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan, and about 100 business executives and policy makers from the two sides.

Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh, the chair of ASEAN in 2012, said at the opening ceremony that the forum was focused on the development of the digital economy and innovation in the ASEAN.

"This is the first ever ASEAN-U.S. Business Summit even though we have many years of relationship with each other," he said, hoping that the bloc would see further growth in trade and investment with the United States after the summit.

Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, who missed the opening ceremony due to flight delay caused by typhoon, David Carden said the United States is very pleased to work with ASEAN, saying that the 10 ASEAN countries are the key economic and strategic partners of the United States.

"Today's summit is another of our journey to enhance trade and investment between the U.S. and ASEAN under the U.S.-ASEAN framework agreement being signed in 2006," he said.

Surin said that the ASEAN has seen an impressive record of imports and exports with the United States. In 2011, the trade volume was 198.8 billion U.S. dollars in the U.S. favor.

"The room is still much more to grow between the two sides," he said.

"Through the summit, we hope to see more progress on trade, investment, human resources development, energy, and green technology...everything that will energize economic progress here in the region and also open up opportunities and potential for the U.S. investment in ASEAN," he said.

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese-owned Cambodia Machinery Equipment Group on Wednesday donated two sophisticated fire-trucks in equivalent to 580,000 U.S. dollars to Cambodia's National Police.

The hand-over ceremony was made between the firm's chairman Yang Baifeng and Cambodia's National Police Chief Neth Savoeun.

Speaking at the event, Neth Savoeun said that the donation was very valuable because Cambodia is much in need of high-technology fire-trucks. He said the donated fire trucks are capable to extinguish fire as high as 10-storey houses.

He said that in the first eight months of this year, more than 300 cases of fire had happened in the country, destroying a lot of properties and injuring 13 people.

Meanwhile, Yang Baifeng said that the donation was to help relieve Cambodia's burden in fighting fire.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China supports Hong Kong's access to the China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone (FTA) as it facilitates the economic integration of the southeastern Asian nations, said the Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming here on Wednesday.

Chen made the remarks when speaking to the media at the sidelines of the on-going 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in Cambodia's tourist City of Siem Reap.

Chen said that Hong Kong's access to the FTA is listed as one of the widely discussed topics during the ministers' meetings. Some of the ASEAN nations had voiced their desires to initiate the negation about Hong Kong's entrance.

"Hong Kong is a very important economy in east Asian area in terms of trade and investment," said Chen, adding, "its access to the China-ASEAN FTA will positively facilitate the regional economic integration."

According to Chen, Hong Kong's economic advantages lie in its investment environment, strong service industry and its ability to develop the international market.

"However, some ASEAN nations have to carefully assess Hong Kong 's access to the FTA as their interests might be hurt by the latter's high level of economic openness and freedom," Chen added.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the ministers meeting on Monday, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen appealed to the ministers to finalize the discussions of Hong Kong's access of FTA and submit it to the ASEAN summit in November for the final approval.